Perpetual has not been spared the impact of stressed equities markets during the start of the year, causing the wealth management giant to suffer a $1 billion blow to its assets under management.

Perpetual's AUM hit $29.8 billion for the three months to March 31, down $1.1 billion from the last quarter of 2015, the firm said on Monday. While $400 million of the fall can be traced back to institutional investors withdrawing their funds, the bulk of the drop is blamed on falling equities markets. That is a good effort, according to one investor.